Kabe no Shinobi
Chapter 7: First Battle: The struggle for Trost, Part 1
[Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Attack on Titan, or any of their characters.]
[Trost. The day after the disbanding ceremony. Six months after the snow-mission.]
"Huh?" Eren gaped "Connie, you're joining the scouts? But you were going on and on about joining the Military Police!"
"Yeah, I know. But... " Connie mumbled abashed.
Mina giggled "But seems like your speech yesterday changed someone's mind."
"Shut up!" Connie turned away to hide his embarrassment. "It was my own decision."
"Don't be so shy about it. You're not the only one." Thomas put in, smiling.
"Thomas, you... " Eren felt lighter at their words.
"Um, guys..." Sasha piped up from behind, leaning over conspiratorially. "I borrowed some meat from the officers' morning rations." She pulled a tied-up roll of fat-trimmed meat from her jacket, drooling all the while.
The reactions were instantaneous.
"Sasha, are you mad! "
"You want to be sent to solitary confinement?!"
"Potato girl!"
"Real idiocy is scary..."
She ignored their comments, her one-track mind already envisioning the delightful taste of juicy, tender, delicious beef, and all the different ways of cooking it.
"Let's all share it together later. We'll cook it, and eat it with bread." she shivered at the mere thought, sounding more like a starved animal than human.
"Go put it back, Sasha. Meat is a luxury now that we've lost so much land!" Mina chided.
"Don't worry 'bout it." Sasha replied whilst hiding the meat in one of the empty crates. "We can just raise more pigs and cows once we retake our lands."
Samuel, who'd been staring disbelievingly until now, snapped out of it. "I-I'll take some of that meat!"
The dam broke.
"Me too, save my part too."
"Me as well."
"That goes double for me!"
Eren watched them amusedly. "guys..."
"What do you say Eren? They'll find us out if we don't get back to work." Samuel went back to cleaning the cannon.
"It's still a while until lunch." Mina added and went to work on another.
Eren smiled and gazed out over Trost district, watching the houses and streets, and people the size of ants flitting about.
It's been five years. Mankind's finally regaining its dignity. We can win.
He felt his determination strengthen. His dream of joining the survey corps was just around the corner.
Humanity's counterattack begins now!
BOOM!
[Naruto POV]
Naruto strolled the worn cobble streets of Trost, minding his own business. Clutching a small paper bag filled with fresh fruit from the shopping district.
The sun beat down from above, making his skin tingle with warmth.
Without the language barrier hindering him, everything had become significantly easier.
He'd made no headway in finding a way home, though. Clones dispatched outside the walls found no traces of other people. One of the clones had glimpsed the ocean far, far to the east. Perhaps he'd try crossing it at some point, but until he'd scoured this land, that would have to wait.
Curiously enough, his clones had noticed that there was a higher concentration of titans in the south. And not just because Shiganshina was there, where wall Maria had been breached, but outside as well.
The titans had to come from somewhere, right? Maybe their place of origin was in that direction?
And so, he'd established himself in Trost, the southern-most city now that wall Maria was overrun. Not that he'd stayed in one place for too long, anyway. Shadow clones would run out of chakra after a while, so moving from one place to the next was essential to make sure they could travel as far as possible.
Summoning the toads from Mount Myōboku had borne no results, either. The Chakra requirement was simply too steep. Trying to summon them felt like trying to budge an actual mountain. It wouldn't give an inch.
The homesickness was bad. He wanted to see Baa-chan, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, Shika, Choji, Gaara, and the rest of his friends. He yearned for the view from atop the Hokage mountain, the taste of Ichiraku Ramen, the thrill of a spar.
He'd taken to studying titans, investigating the walls and its people, training, exploring the lands beyond the wall. Anything, to quench his longing for home.
He sighed. At least he could help some people around here. Just a few days ago he'd happened upon some petty thugs trying to mug an old man in an alley during night.
One ass-whopping later, Naruto had left the alley chatting with a stunned, but grateful old man, and a pile of beaten thugs in his wake.
He picked out on of the riper apples from his bag and bit into it. A trail of juice trickling down the corner of his mouth.
BOOM!
A sound like the roar of thunder and the world turned bright yellow for just an instant.
His apple dropped to the ground, forgotten. Years as a Shinobi saw him alert and ready in an instant, head whipping around to the source- only to widen at the sight of a humongous, fleshy head peeking over the walls. Its lips peeled back to display a row of perfect teeth, skull bared, and crimson muscles rippling.
Just for a moment time seemed to stand still, the world frozen, spellbound. Broken only by the titan's foot smashing through the outer gate of Trost.
Then, all hell broke loose.
All around him people ran, fearful for their lives, and heedless of whoever else they trampled over to get to safety.
Some were screaming, others crying, some just shocked numb.
From his perch atop one of the taller buildings, he could see the titans starting to stream through the eight-meter hole in Trosts' outer gate.
Yeah, this was bad. Really bad.
The military had mobilized immediately, soldiers rushing towards the breach to keep the titans at bay while the populace evacuated.
He'd contemplated keeping his cover, but for what?
Around a year in this foreign land, and he still had no clue about how to get home. Yes, he might get in trouble with the military, but, honestly, what the fuck could they even do to him? If they tried to arrest him, he'd just use another henge. Besides, Rasengan was ultimately a universal get-out-of-jail card.
On the other hand, if he could convince them to cooperate, it'd make everything so much easier. For all of them.
He could take out titans, and in return they would give him the information he sought. Either way, it wasn't his style to let people suffer when he had the power to save them.
He nodded to himself, pleased. Kakashi would've been proud of him- his logic was unquestionable.
He cracked his knuckles, grinning.
[Random trainee POV]
Dina fumbled at her gear, but to no avail. Something was wrong with the handles making it so the hooks wouldn't fire.
The titan she'd been trying to manoeuvre around, came lumbering out from behind a building. Her blood froze at the sight. Motionless, she hoped to avoid catching its attention, but it was ultimately useless. It reared its ugly head, manic eyes zeroing in on her position.
She felt tears stinging at the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill.
This was it. This was how she would die. Eaten by a titan with not a soul around to witness it. Her life would amount to nothing more than another digit in the death tally.
She watched its hulking form creep closer, one earthshattering step at the time.
Morbidly she wondered if there would be anything left of her body to bring home.
Her back against the wall, she slid down helplessly, hands covering her head and eyes shut tight.
Damn it, damn it! I don't wanna die. Please! I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, idontwannadieidontwannadie-
[RASENGAN!]
Her head whipped up just in time to see the flesh on the titan's nape explode. Blood and gore everywhere, the titans' bulk hit the ground, steam rising from its already disintegrating body.
Then, someone came flying through the smoke, landing just in front of her.
He stood. "You alright? I saw you were fumbling with your gear. Is it broken?"
Dina gaped, too shocked to reply.
He raised an eyebrow, stepped closer, and waved a hand in front of her face. "Hellooo? You good?"
She couldn't find the words. Did he kill that titan? Her eyes flickered wildly between the steaming corps and her apparent saviour. How! He has no gear! And- and the titan's neck, it— it just exploded!?
"Oi! Snap out of it! What's wrong with your gear?"
She blinked. Twice. "I-It—it's broken. Th— the hooks won't fire."
He nodded. "Alright, then. Hold tight."
"Hold wha—!"
Suddenly she was off the ground, slung unceremoniously over one shoulder, and being carried up the wall. Wait, up the wall?!
She stared down towards the retreating pavement. The ground was actually moving farther and farther away! They were going up the fucking wall! With no gear!?
Her hands dug into his clothes, holding on for dear life.
.
.
"Ok, we're up... You can let go of me now."
Dina cracked one eye open tentatively. And, true enough, they were on the wall. She released him and was set down. She wobbled unsteadily on her feet, slightly nauseous. "I-I, we—how did-?"
"You should get a move on." he said, cutting her blabbering short. "There are soldiers on stand-by on the other side of the inner gate. Run over there and give 'em a shout. They'll help you down."
She didn't get to reply before he jumped over the edge.
Unconsciously, she reached out to pull him back to safety. But he was gone, and she stood alone atop the wall.
What the hell just happened...?
[Clone #1 POV]
Naruto came to a halt when he spotted two children running for their lives. A boy and a girl. The boy was older, ten or eleven he guessed. The girl around eight.
The titan chasing them was smaller than most, only about three meters tall. It didn't seem in any hurry either, strolling languidly after its prey. But even walking, its long-legged strides made the titan difficult to outrun, especially for children.
Wasting no time, Naruto swooped down like a bat out of hell. His chakra-enhanced kunai cleaving right through its neck, parting head from shoulders and followed by an unholy spray of blood.
Even headless, the thing continued to struggle, writhing on the ground, arms flailing about in a desperate attempt to grab whatever was nearby.
He put an end to it with a another well placed cut to the nape.
The kids stared at him in awe, almost disbelieving. Small wonder, Naruto mused. -even geared and fully trained, soldiers have a hard time killing these beasts. And here I am, cutting them down like a scythe does grain.
Wordlessly, he grabbed the two, one in each arm, and hopped off towards the nearest evacuation point.
[With the trainees]
"Hey, Jean! What do we do now?" Connie asked.
"What can we do? We finally received the order to retreat, but we can't get over the wall because we're out of gas." Jean ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "We're all going to die. Thanks to those fucking cowards... "
"You mean the support squad?" Connie asked. "What happened to them? Are they all dead?"
"I'm guessing the titans have them surrounded, which is why they can't supply us with gas. They've probably barricaded themselves within HQ." Jean explained. "They probably lost their will to fight..."
"That's exactly why we have no choice but to go all in on those titans!" Connie yelled, sweat beading on his forehead. "Sitting here and waiting to die isn't going to make a difference! The titans are just going to surround us too!"
He stepped closer to Jean; hands spread out beseechingly. "If we keep running away from them, we'll just end up wasting what little gas we have left. Once we lose our mobility, it'll really be over!"
Jean just chuckled mirthlessly. "I never thought I'd hear you make an intelligent comment, Connie." He looked over to the other cadets gathered on the nearby roofs. "But how do you propose we do that with the forces we have left? The vanguard has nearly been wiped out. Moreover, which one of us cadets could possibly take command over such an operation?" He sighed; head bowed. "Not that we could do anything about the titans even if someone took command. The storage is probably crawling with three-to-four-meter titans by now. And of course, we can't fight them inside the storage."
Connie's face fell. "So, it's hopeless?"
On the roof next to theirs, Sasha tried to motivate some of the trainees into action, desperately trying to raise their spirits. Even going as far as to offer to lead the charge herself. It didn't matter though, none could muster up the courage, nor will, to proceed.
Mikasa came next. After being pointed towards the pale-faced, crying Armin.
"Our unit..." Armin began, voiced choked. "the 34th cadet unit... Thomas Wagner. Nic Tius. Mylius Zeramuski. Mina Carolina... Eren Jeager. All five of them have fulfilled their duty and died heroic deaths in battle!" he finished, sobbing.
That was like the final nail to the coffin, their already brittle resolve falling apart.
Amidst the whispers and quiet tears, no one noticed a blond-haired youth land behind them.
"Oi! What's the situation here?"
Jean was the first of many to turn to the speaker.
The first thing he noticed was the distinct lack of military garb. A civilian?!
"What're you doing?! All the civilians should be evacuating!"
"Never mind that for now, I can handle myself." Naruto groused. "What's the hold up here? Is something wrong? Shouldn't you be getting out of here, too?"
"We're low on gas. We need to get to HQ and refill, but it's overrun by titans." Sasha explained.
Naruto nodded. He took stock of their numbers and condition. A sorry looking bunch to be sure. "Who's the highest-ranking soldier here?"
Connie shook his head. "We're all just cadets."
Naruto winced. They haven't even graduated. Never been in a situation like this. There's no one around to take control and guide them. None whose hands they're willing to place their lives into.
He exhaled slowly.
"Everyone, listen up!" Naruto yelled, trying to emulate Kakashi during missions, voice stern and unyielding. The cadets straightened. "As he said, you're too low on gas to get to safety. Our only option is to get to HQ!"
"But it's swarmed by titans!" someone yelled.
"Yes, but staying out here is certain death. If we can get to HQ, there's still a chance we might survive, some of us, at least."
A blond haired, bored-looking girl stepped up next. "And how do you propose we get there?"
Naruto met her blue eyes with his own. "We need to move all together, the most skilled in front. Anyone else would have a lower chance of survival."
A tall, well-built teen stepped up next. "That'd be the top ten. Me, Bert, Mikasa, Sasha, Connie, Annie, Jean, Marco, and Christa. Everyone's here... Besides Eren."
Jean turned to Naruto, grim-faced. "So, the top ten lead, exposing ourselves to the most danger. What about you? Don't misunderstand, I'm glad someone's willing to take command, but what're you going to be doing?"
Naruto smirked. "I'll be leading the ten of you, of course."
Jean laughed humourlessly. "You? You don't even have gear. Are you even a soldier?" he took the silence he got in return as an answer.
"-it doesn't matter." Mikasa passed them all, cutting off whatever Jean was about to say and stopping at the edge of the roof. "He's right. If we take out the titans around HQ and replenish our gas, we can get to safety."
"But Mikasa, even with you here, there're just too many-" Marco began.
"We can do it." She spoke. "I'm strong, stronger than all of you. I can kill all the titans there. Even if I'm alone..." she levelled a blade at them, "You're either incompetent, or you're spineless cowards. How pathetic."
"Hey, Mikasa! What are you saying!" One girl shouted. "You want to fight all those titans by yourself?!"
"There's no way you can do that!" another added.
"If I can't, I'll just die. But if I win, I live. Unless I fight, I can't win." Mikasa replied, turning her back on them and took off.
Naruto watched; eyebrow raised. "Motivational speeches are all well and good but darting off like that is reckless." We should pick out the safest, least gas-consuming route, at the very least.
Next to him, Jean clenched his teeth. "Your attempt at motivation is what's pathetic. Was the point of that to shock us into action? Dammit, I blame you for this, Eren." he mumbled, then in a louder voice; "Hey, were we trained to let our comrades fight alone?! At this rate, we'll turn out to be spineless cowards!" Jean followed after Mikasa. Others steadily trickled after.
Sasha was about to follow herself when she noticed Naruto and remembered he had no gear. She jogged over. "Hey, you're gonna need someone to carry you, since you don't have gear." A pause. Hesitation in her eyes, before bracing herself. "I can-"
"It's fine." She's willing to offer help, even though it would decrease her own chances of survival. He smiled. "I can manage, but thanks for asking." He flicked his head towards the leaving cadets. "We should get moving, else we'll get left behind."
Chakra flowing through his every limb, he jumped. Leaping mightily over houses, streets, and stunned trainees.
The disbelieving shouts echoing behind him only served to make him laugh.
[Jean POV]
It's no use, Jean thought bleakly, eyes focused on the HQ building in the distance, towering over all else. We won't get close to HQ, unless we're prepared to make sacrifices.
A horror-filled scream made it to his ears, and he turned to look down at the streets where it'd come from. Some soldier, dark-haired and fairly tall, stood hunched over crying, gear refusing to reel him in.
Damn! He's outta' gas!
Jean wanted to move. To help. But with multiple titans converging on the poor guy, he knew better.
The titans were in arms distance, and the man grew hysterical. "Stay away! Please! No-!"
"Tom, I'm going to save you!" someone yelled. One guy and a girl, flying to the rescue.
"Stop, you can't! It's too late-!" Jean called after the two as they rushed past him, but his words fell on deaf ears. Too focused on saving his friend, the male failed to notice one of the nearby titans and was snatched out of the air.
Soon, he too was screaming for help.
Jean watched as the titan brought him closer to its mouth, uncaring of any wailing and begging. Next to him, the female soldier was grabbed by another greedy hand. Meanwhile, Tom had his head crushed between his captors gnawing teeth.
Why couldn't I stop them? If I had stopped them, even by force... This wouldn't have happened, Jean thought. Am I really cut out for this? Am I really fit to have a position of such responsibility?
[Fūton: Shinkū Taigyoku!]
Suddenly the 9-meter titans' neck was complete gone, obliterated by what looked like a moving distortion in space that Jean could barely even see.
The titan went limp, and its prey was dropped carelessly on the ground.
Then a yellow blur flew by, as fast as a speeding bullet, and the fingers that held the female soldier were severed, clattering on the ground and squirting blood.
The titan screamed and the girl was caught mid-air, by-
Jean did a spit-take. It's that guy!
[Naruto POV]
The reactions to his style of travel had been hilarious, ranging from cries of disbelief to just outright gaping. One had even been so surprised that he misfired his hooks. Good thing Naruto had caught him right before his face got acquainted with the pavement.
As he was about to catch up with the head of the group, he spotted two soldiers ahead, trapped and about to be eaten.
Mentally, he measured the distance and time it would take to reach them. They're too far away.
His hands flashed through a pair of seals.
Tiger, Dog. He drew in an enormous breath, lungs filled to bursting. Then exhaled all at once.
[Wind Style: Vacuum Great Sphere!]
His jutsu travelled at sonic speeds, disintegrating all in its path. Which just so happened to be the titans' neck, and by extension, the nape.
The titans' head crashed face-first onto the ground, body following shortly after.
He turned his attention to the 12-meter titan holding the girl. Without wasting a second, he drew out two kunai and channelled Chakra.
A miasma of blue energy came to life around them, split into two currents that ground against each other to create ethereal blades of extraordinary sharpness, just the way Asuma had taught him and Sora what felt like a lifetime ago.
They wouldn't be able to cut out the entire nape, he knew. The blades simply weren't long enough to slice that deep.
Silently, he cursed the fact that he hadn't expanded upon Asuma's lessons. He had been naturally inclined towards taijutsu and ninjutsu, and so a kenjutsu technique had seemed unnecessary. Now however, a wind blade, with its longer reach and unparalleled cutting prowess would've been perfect.
Nonetheless, his enhanced kunai went through the titans' fingers like a hot knife through butter.
He snatched the female soldier mid-air. Then, hopping over to the male, slung him over his shoulder and dropped them off safely on a tall building.
[Jean POV]
Jean watched the civilian- if that was indeed what he was- put the two soldiers down. He asked them a few questions; "are you hurt?", "is your gear fine?", which the trainees barely managed to answer, scared shitless as they were. They blubbered some incoherent answers through choked sobs and tears, thanking him profusely between each sentence.
"What was that?" someone whispered next to him. Marco going by the voice and sounding about as confused and awed as Jean felt.
All the other trainees were openly gawking at what they'd just witnessed. The stranger, on the other hand, merely sheathed his little dagger- if it could even be called that. Never had Jean seen such a strange weapon. Honestly, it looked more like a failed attempt at a spearhead than anything else.
The guy paused to glance curiously at the slowly disintegrating corpse before addressing the crowd of onlookers.
"I'll clear a path towards HQ, follow behind me and don't stray too far away! We're almost there!"
Blondie led them as he'd said he would. Killing every titan in his path with astonishing ease, using abilities unheard of. They arrived at HQ not long after, crashing through the tinted glass windows on the second floor.
Currently, Jean, like the rest of his fellow trainees, was in shock.
The way he moved... Jumping from building to building effortlessly. That's... That's just not possible. And the way he destroyed those titans, he exploded their napes! Not even cannons do that kind of damage. It-it's far beyond what any human is capable of!
Looking around, there were fewer people than what they'd set out with. Not everyone had made it. Not by a long shot. Some had been grabbed by the occasional titan that they'd tried to manoeuvre around. Some had lagged behind; others had run out of gas.
People had died, and it was terrible, but Jean had no delusions. If that stranger hadn't come along and helped, there wouldn't be as many people in here as there were.
They stood in silence. The only noise the rumbling footfalls of titans outside. With each booming step, the ground trembled. The castle shaking ever so slightly, throwing small clouds of dust into the air.
"Hey!" Reiner shouted, startling the trainees, his face uncharacteristically serious. "Just who, and what the hell are you?!"
Their saviour smirked in a way that could almost be considered arrogant. "The name's Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm a ninja."
AN:
Yo! I'm back!
It's been a while since I posted on this fic. I've been busy with study and work, and so these fanfics have had to take a backseat. I decided to publish some other stories, one Attack on Titan fic and a One Piece/My Hero Academia crossover. They're going to have pretty short chapters, so that I can publish even during my studies. Meanwhile, this fic and the GoT fic will get updates during holidays and such when I can sit down and write over longer periods of time.
Though not the longest I've written, this chapter isn't the shortest either. There's some long-awaited action. Naruto is finally going to be revealing some of his abilities and interacting with some of the main characters.
I've never written action before, so tell me how you thought I did. Obviously, Naruto is going to have some nifty jutsu on hand. I never really liked the fact that Naruto and his friends rarely- if at all- branched out of their clan related jutsu.
It's ridiculous that Naruto, during his two-year trip with Jiraya, one of the Sannin, didn't learn a single elemental jutsu- or any jutsu for that matter- besides a bigger rasengan. Especially when Naruto is a guy who enjoys training and constantly wants to get stronger. At least that's the impression I got.
On another note, this fanfic now has over 600 favourites, 800 follows, and 50000 views. Sheesh! Feels great knowing people enjoy my hard work. Thank you!
Someone asked whether or not Naruto's under-cover name meant something. Yes! Niels is just a normal name, but Fuchs means fox. Fitting, right?
Anyway, thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Please leave a review! (Always enjoy reading those)
~Zenix_404~